The Columbia River - The Oregon Trail Lewis & Clark's Columbia River - "200 Years Later" "The Oregon Trail" Includes ... Oregon Trail ...Oregon National Historic Trail ... National Register of Historic Places ... Columbia River ... Prairie Schooner ... Barlow Road ... The Dalles ... Oregon City ... Click image to enlarge Mount Hood from Highway 26. Parts of Highway 26 follow the old Barlow Road, part of the Oregon Trail. Image taken August 16, 2009. Oregon Trail ... The Oregon Trail ran approximately 2,000 miles from Missouri to the Rocky Mountains and then to the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The trip took four to six months. Independence, Missouri, is considered the beginning of the Oregon Trail and Oregon City, Oregon , is considered the end. The trail was busy, lasting from the early 1840s and ending with the coming of the railroad at the end of the 1860s. Large scale migration began in 1843, when a wagon train of over 800 people with 120 wagons and 5,000 cattle made the five month journey. The General Path ...

"The road began in Missouri, followed the North Platte River until it reached the Sweetwater River. The river offered relatively easy travel and a close water source. The Sweetwater River banks led the wagon trains up the gentle slopes of South Pass, where pioneers crossed the Rocky Mountains. The trail then crossed the rugged Snake River Desert and treacherous Blue Mountains before reaching the Columbia River. Here, pioneers chose either to use rafts to transport wagons down the river or follow the Barlow Road around Mount Hood to their final destination in Oregon City. ... The standard date for departure from any of the jumping-off places was April 15 - give or take a week or two, with expected arrival in Oregon or California hopefully by September 1, but not later than October 1. An ideal crossing was 120 days, April 15 to August 15, a daily average for the 2,000 mile long trail of 15 miles per day, a typical crossing took about two weeks longer. On a good day more than 15 miles could be covered, on a bad day, much less." Source: U.S. National Park Service, Whitman Mission, Oregon Trail Teachers Guide. Oregon National Historic Trail ...

In 1978, the entire Oregon Trail, including the Barlow Road , was named a National Historic Trail by the U.S. Congress. The Trail crosses through six states -- Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, and Wyoming. Click image to enlarge Oregon Trail below Signal Hill, east of The Dalles, Oregon. Information via volunteer guide, Horsethief Lake Park (Columbia Hills State Park), Washington. Image taken October 15, 2011. Click image to enlarge Oregon Trail kiosk at Government Camp. Image taken August 14, 2012. Prairie Schooner ... "A prairie schooner is a relatively small covered wagon averaging 10-12 feet long and 4-5 feet wide. Most were converted farm wagons, although a few individuals such as freed slave Hiram Young and the Studebaker brothers made a living crafting wagons in Missouri for the Oregon Trail. Older and larger Conestogas were built for the freight trade on the National Road or Santa Fe Trail.

Some early pioneers tried these large wagons on the Oregon Trail but soon discovered they were too heavy for their teams to cross the Rockies." Source: Jim Thompkins, 1996 and 2002, "Discovering Laurel Hill and the Barlow Road" Destination, Oregon City ... Umatilla and Irrigon ... During the heyday of the Oregon Trail, both Umatilla and Irrigon had portions of the Oregon Trail turning north and reaching the Columbia River. [ More ] "... The main route generally followed the Snake River across much of southern Idaho. At the place called Farewell Bend, near Ontario, Oregon, the pioneers veered away from the Snake River, bidding it farewell as the name implies, and struck out overland across the Blue Mountains. Arriving at what is now the City of Echo, Oregon, the trail took several branches. The main trail proceeded westward through a stage stop called Well Springs and then onward to the Columbia River near The Dalles. Another branch of the trail followed the Umatilla River from Echo down to its confluence with the Columbia River at what is now the City of Umatilla.

A third branch traversed down through present-day Umatilla Army Depot and joined with a Columbia River shoreline trail here at Irrigon. This trail segment intersects almost exactly at the campsite of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery, thus the city logo ï¿½Where Lewis and Clark & the Oregon Trail meetï¿½. ..." Source: City of Irrigon website, 2014, "Irrigon History" Willow Creek ... The Oregon trail wagons crossed Willow Creek , approximately 15 miles upstream, near the town of Cecil. Alkali Canyon ... Between Willow Creek and the John Day River , the wagons of the Oregon Trail traveled down the flat valley of Alkali Canyon . Alkali Canyon extends south from Arlington, Oregon for approximately eight miles before turning west and heading to Rock Creek, a tributary of the John Day River . Arlington ... The main route of the Oregon Trail passed approximately eight miles south of today's community of Arlington , staying on the plateau before dropping into Alkali Canyon and heading west to the John Day River . Many wagons however turned north at Alkali Canyon, reaching the Columbia River at the location of today's Arlington.

From there the settlers rafted down the Columbia in Hudson's Bay Company bateaux (boats) or Indian canoes. John Day River crossing ... The Oregon Trail wagons crossed the John Day River approximately 20 miles upstream from its mouth, at a flat location known as "McDonald Ford". Later this was to become a ferry location. "After three days of sand, rock, blustery winds, and shortages of wood and water while crossing the Columbia Plateau, emigrants were relieved to arrive at the John Day River . This was the first of several major rivers flowing north toward the Columbia that would have to be crossed, but the McDonald ford provided an easy crossing. The river is normally only 8-12 inches deep during late summer, and the ford has a smooth, pebbly bottom. Esther Belle McMillan Hanna arrived at McDonald Ford on September 1, 1852: We had a very steep hill to descend in coming to it [John Day River]. ... We have encamped on the river bottom, which is large and very level.

Will remain here until tomorrow to rest our cattle and ourselves and conclude on the route we will take." After ascending the west side of the canyon -- "one of the most difficult hills have have met on the whole journey across the plains" -- emigrants could take the right fork of the trail to go the the Dalles, or, after 1848, they could take the left fork and follow a cutoff to the Barlow Road ." Source: U.S. National Park Service, Comprehensive Management and Use Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement, Oregon National Historic Trail. Click image to enlarge John Day River, Oregon, looking upstream. John Day River, looking upstream, as seen from LaPage Park, Oregon. Image taken September 26, 2003. Biggs Junction ... "After crossing McDonald Ford, the Oregon Trail slowly wound its way through the hills towards the Columbia River. About 25 miles west of the ford, emigrants abruptly toppped a ridge and saw spread out before them the magnificent Columbia River Valley, with Mount Hood rising from the western horizon.

This was one of the most impressive and joyful sights along the trail, for the Oregon country was finally beginning to resemble its publicized beauty, and reaching the Columbia River meant the long overland journey was almost at an end. Michael Fleenen Luark wrote on August 23, 1853, "4 miles further we reached the Columbia river for the first time after going down a long but not a steep hill. ... the river is quite low at this time leaving large banks of beautiful white sand showing that the river is extremely high at some seasons of the year." A one mile section of trail ruts cross a bench above Old Highway 30 west of the present-day town of Biggs Junction . This is one of the last remaining stretches of the Oregon Trail along the Columbia River not destroyed by highway and railroad construction in the past century." Source: U.S. National Park Service, Comprehensive Management and Use Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement, Oregon National Historic Trail. Click image to enlarge Biggs Junction, Oregon, as seen Maryhill Museum, Washington. Image taken May 29, 2012. Deschutes River crossing ...

"Emigrants frequently camped at the mouth of the Deschutes River before attempting the difficult crossing of this "considerable tributary of the Columbia." Some parties crossed at the mouth of the river, using rocky islands as stepping-stones. Wagons were usually floated across, while the animals swam. Joel Palmer wrote a detailed description of the crossing on September 28, 1845: "The river is about one hundred yards wide, and the current very rapid; the stream is enclosed by lofty cliffs of basaltic rock. Four hundred yards from the Columbia is a rapid or cascade. Within the distance of thirty yards its descent is from fifteen to twenty feet. The current of this stream was so rapid and violet, and withal of such depth, as to require us to ferry it. Some of the companies behind us, however, drove over at its mouth by crossing on a bar."" (Note:, the original river crossing is now submerged by Lake Celilo .) Source: U.S. National Park Service, Comprehensive Management and Use Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement, Oregon National Historic Trail. "River crossings were difficult for Oregon Trail emigrants and the Deschutes River was no exception.

John McAllister, emigrant of 1852, warned "danger attends the crossage here ... many large rocks and at the same time a very rapid current." Emigrants, wagons and livestock all had to cross the river and casualties were common. Amelia Hadley, emigrant of 1851, noted a canoes "bottom side up, with a pair of boots tied in the captern." Early emigrants often hired local Indians to assist at this river crossing. During the 1850s pioneer entrepreneurs seized control of the ford and offered expensive ferry service. A toll bridge was established by 1864." Source: Information sign, Oregon Trail kiosk, Deschutes River State Recreation Area. Click image to enlarge Mouth of the Deschutes River, Oregon. View from Washington State Highway 14. Miller Island is tip in lower left corner. Image taken May 24, 2005. Click image to enlarge Oregon Trail kiosk, Deschutes River State Recreation Area, Deschutes River, Oregon. Image taken May 12, 2014.

Click image to enlarge Information sign, Oregon Trail kiosk, Deschutes River State Recreation Area, Deschutes River, Oregon. Image taken May 12, 2014. The Dalles ... "Until 1846, The Dalles marked the end of the overland travel on the Oregon Trail. At the mouth of Chenoweth Creek , emigrants embarked on steamboats, rafts, or canoes for the 83-mile journey down the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver . With the opening of the Barlow Road , emigrants at The Dalles faced a decision -- whether to float their families and wagons down the Columbia or to cross the southern flank of Mount Hood by wagon. Neither option was easy. Rafts and livestock were difficult to maneuver along the river's swift currents and the Barlow Road's steep and rocky grades made travel dangerous for exhausted livestock." Source: U.S. National Park Service, Comprehensive Management and Use Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement, Oregon National Historic Trail. Click image to enlarge The Dalles, Oregon, with Mount Hood. The Dalles and Mount Hood as seen from Dallesport, Washington. Image taken April 24, 2004.

"Decision at The Dalles" ... Once reaching The Dalles, Oregon Trail travelers had to decide whether to take the "land route" and go around Mount Hood, or take the "river route" and raft down the Columbia River. The mural "Decision at The Dalles" was painted by Don Crook in 1992, and is located at E. Federal Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets, The Dalles, Oregon. Click image to enlarge Mural, "Decision at The Dalles", The Dalles, Oregon. Mural painted by Don Crook, 1992. Image taken May 8, 2013. Click image to enlarge Mural, "Decision at The Dalles", The Dalles, Oregon. Mural painted by Don Crook, 1992. Image taken May 8, 2013. Land Route, Barlow Road ... The Barlow Road is a part of the Oregon Trail, being established in 1845, making its way around the south side of Mount Hood . This road provided an alternative to the dangerous and expensive route that used rafts to transport wagons down the Columbia River.

The Barlow Road began at The Dalles , headed south through Dufur and Tygh Valley, then turned west and north through Barlow Pass and Government Camp, passed through "Tollgate #5" and crossed the Sandy River, and continued to the community of Sandy , where it headed west and ended up at Oregon City . Tollgate Replica, Barlow Road, Rhododendron, Oregon. Image taken September 20, 2011. Land Route, Discovery Center Exhibit ... Click image to enlarge Exhibit, Oregon Trail "Land Route", Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, The Dalles, Oregon. Around the south side of Mount Hood on the Barlow Road. Image taken May 8, 2013. Click image to enlarge Exhibit, Oregon Trail "Land Route", Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, The Dalles, Oregon. Around the south side of Mount Hood on the Barlow Road. Image taken May 8, 2013. River Route, Chenoweth Creek and Crates Point ... At the mouth of Chenoweth Creek near Crates Point , emigrants embarked on steamboats, rafts, or canoes for the 83-mile journey down the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver .

"... The last of the emigrants had just left the Dalles at the time of our arrival, traveling some by water and others by land, making ark-like rafts, on which they had embarked their families and households, with their large wagons and other furniture, while their stock were driven along the shore. ..." [John C. Fremont, November 6, 1843] "At Crates Point , a protected harbor at the mouth of Chenoweth Creek , the Oregon Trail pioneers put into the river. John McLoughlin, despite orders from his superiors, sent bateaux and food here to assist (and occasionally rescue) weary emigrants. Nearby were many pine trees to cut for building immense rafts that could hold up to six wagons. Writing in 1843, explorer John C. Fremont described them as "ark-like rafts, on which they had embarked their families and households, with their large wagons and other furniture, while their stock were driven along the shore."" Source: Oregon-California Trails Association website, 2011, "The Dalles, Oregon, End of the Old Oregon Trail".

Click image to enlarge Chenoweth Creek looking downstream, The Dalles, Oregon. Image taken May 8, 2013. Click image to enlarge Chenoweth Creek drainage, The Dalles, Oregon. View looking west at the Chenoweth Creek drainage (trees), approximately 1/2 mile from the mouth of Chenoweth Creek. Image taken May 8, 2013. Click image to enlarge Flat area west side of the Chenoweth Creek drainage, looking towards the Columbia River. View approximately 1/2 mile from the mouth of Chenoweth Creek. Image taken May 8, 2013. River Route, Log rafts, Hudson's Bay Batteau ... Click image to enlarge ILLUSTRATION: "Type of log raft used by pioneers between The Dalles and Cascade Locks". Source: S.C. Lancaster, 1916, "The Columbia, America's Great Highway", p.40. Click image to enlarge ILLUSTRATION: "Hudson's Bay Batteau, used on the Columbia River, below Cascades". Source: S.C.

Lancaster, 1916, "The Columbia, America's Great Highway", p.46. River Route, Discovery Center Exhibit ... Click image to enlarge Exhibit, Oregon Trail "River Route", Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, The Dalles, Oregon. Image taken May 8, 2013. Click image to enlarge Exhibit, Oregon Trail "River Route", Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, The Dalles, Oregon. Image taken May 8, 2013. Click image to enlarge Exhibit, Oregon Trail "River Route", Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, The Dalles, Oregon. Image taken May 8, 2013. River Route, Cascades of the Columbia ... "While the men drove livestock along the river shore, women and children stayed with the wagons and floated the Columbia River as far as the Cascades . This was the last dangerous obstacle on the Oregon Trail for those traveling the Columbia River Route. ... Although these rapids were occasionally run with fully loaded boats, the practice was dangerous and fraught with accidents. Most emigrants resorted to a back-breaking three to five mile portage.

Local Indians helped the emigrants transport their loads until portage roads were built around the obstruction in the 1850s." Source: U.S. National Park Service, Comprehensive Management and Use Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement, Oregon National Historic Trail. River Route, The Dalles to Troutdale ... Leaving The Dalles, Oregon Trail emigrants who chose the "river route" built rafts to float women, children, wagons, and goods down the Columbia River, while the men and boys drove the livestock along the banks. At the Hood River the cattle crossed to the north bank of the Columbia and at the Sandy River the cattle were driven back across the Columbia to the south side. While many rafts floated all the way to Fort Vancouver, others would unload at the mouth of the Sandy River to wait for the men and cattle. Wagons were reassembled and then went south, climbing the hills and heading towards Oregon City. The Oregon community of Troutdale was settled during this period, not only by Oregon Trail pioneers arriving via the Columbia, but also from pioneers arriving in Portland and heading east towards the banks of the Sandy.

In 1863 Joel Palmer established a toll cattle trail on the south side of the Columbia River and established ferries across the Hood River and the Sandy River. In 1872 the Oregon legislature first appropriated funds for building a wagon road from The Dalles to Troutdale, and in 1876 they provided more. In 1883 the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company built a railroad along the same route, destroying the wagon road in many places. By 1925 the Columbia River Highway was finished, giving early 20th century "pioneers" easy access to the Willamette Valley. "Oregon Trail emigrants arrived at the Sandy River after descending the Columbia or traveling its rugged banks with lifestock. Emigrants camped along the banks of the Sandy River reassembling wagons and recuperating. Crossing the Sandy downstream from this site, and climbing the hill behind the Harlow House, where the trail is still visible, emigrants could look behind at the bluffs that today mark the western entrance of the Columbia Gorge. For emigrants, however, these bluffs marked the eastern gateway to the Willamette Valley.

..." Source: Information sign at the Harlow House Museum, Troutdale, Oregon, visited in 2011. Click image to enlarge Sandy River, Oregon, near Troutdale, from right bank looking downstream towards Lewis and Clark Recreation Area boat ramp (on right). The boat ramp location was once the location of an Oregon Trail ferry across the Sandy River. Image taken October 18, 2003. Click image to enlarge Path, Robins Way, Troutdale, Oregon, once a wagon road heading from Troutdale towards Oregon City. Image taken September 13, 2011. River Route, Fort Vancouver ... "Founded by the Hudson's Bay Company in the winter of 1824-1825 as a fur trading post and supply depot, Fort Vancouver was the most important settlement in the Pacific Northwest for more than 20 years. Dr. John McLoughlin, Chief Factor of the post until 1845, greatly assisted the exhausted, penniless emigrants who arrived at his doorstep. He helped them with transportation, lodging, subsistence, and even extended credit for supplies obtained at the post until they could raise their first crops." Source: U.S.

National Park Service, Comprehensive Management and Use Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement, Oregon National Historic Trail. Click image to enlarge Fort Vancouver, Washington. The fort's palisade was built not for protection of the fort, but to protect trading items from theft. View is looking out of the gates towards the Vancouver Barracks. Image taken March 7, 2004. Click image to enlarge Fort Vancouver, Washington. Image taken August 27, 2006. Destination, Oregon City ... Oregon City , located approximately 15 miles south of Portland, Oregon, is considered the "End of the Oregon Trail". This is the home of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, a museum which provides information and "living displays" about the Barlow Road and the Oregon Trail. "The Oregon Trail officially ended at Abernethey Green in Oregon City. The town was not much to boast of in the 1840s. Maria Belshaw called it the "worst looking place for a City I ever saw." The town was started in 1842 by Dr. John McLoughlin, who chose the site because of its location next to the falls of the Willamette River.

The falls prohibited water navigation farther south and provided power for McLoughlin's sawmill. From here, emigrants fanned out across the fertile Willamette Valley to the south in search of the new homes they had come so far to find. Today, the End of the Oregon Trial Interpretive Center is lcoated at Abernethy Green." Source: U.S. National Park Service, Comprehensive Management and Use Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement, Oregon National Historic Trail. Click image to enlarge Where did the Oregon Trail Go? : Reaching Oregon's Willamette Valley : OCTA Where did the Oregon Trail Go? Reaching Oregon's Willamette Valley Where did the Oregon Trail really go? The answer is not simple, as there was no single route, just a destination: Oregon's Willamette Valley. Across the street from Barton Store in Clackamas County is a triangular sign bearing the National Park Service's Oregon Trail wagon logo and the words "Route of the Oregon Trail." It is on the closest well-maintained road to the actual route of the pioneer emigrants. There are about 300 identical signs across the state of Oregon, showing where modern tourists can parallel the Trail's route.

There are two other similar signs, as well. One in Oregon City at Abernethy Green points to the "End of the Oregon Trail," and another (a gift from Oregon City) in Independence, Missouri, reads "Beginning of the Oregon Trail." Where did the Oregon Trail really go? The answer is not simple, as there was no single route, just a destination: Oregon's Willamette Valley. The route started on the banks of the Missouri River, originally at Independence, then Westport, then Weston across from Fort Leavenworth. The first route followed the Santa Fe Trail into Kansas Territory. The Westport Road bypassed the Santa Fe Trail, went through Shawnee Mission in Kansas, and caught up with the Oregon Trail at Lawrence. The Weston route caught up with the main trunk of the Trail at the Big Blue River. The first few days on the Trail were times of trial and error, of sightseeing, of getting used to new conventions. Rules of the road had to be established and leaders elected. Up at dawn, on the road by seven. No swearing. A "nooning" for a cold meal. No alcohol except for medicinal purposes. Drive fifteen miles a day. Walk nearly all the way.

Deaths and graves would too soon become commonplace, but some of the first ones showed more time and care. Susan Hale's newly-wed husband walked back to Missouri to have a tombstone made, then carried it in a wheelbarrow back past Alcove Springs to give her a proper burial. Then he continued on his way west, vanishing in the mists of history while her name lives on. Angling across northeastern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska, the Oregon Trail is joined by the road from St. Joseph. For several hundred miles the Trail was punctuated by Pony Express stations. Hollenberg Station in Kansas is well preserved; Rock Creek Station in Nebraska was the site of a shooting that brought fame to Wild Bill Hickok. The Platte River -- too thick to drink and too thin to plow, the pioneers complained -- was the major emigrant highway across the plains. The Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails all followed the Platte River, and historian Merril Mattes referred to the route simply as "the Great Platte River Road" rather than associating it with any single historic trail.

Overlanders reached the Platte at Fort Kearny, the first of seven forts along the Trail (more would be built in later years to repress Indian uprisings). Forts Kearny and Laramie were owned and operated by the U.S. Army. Fort Bridger was an independent fur trading post. Forts Boise and Vancouver were Hudson's Bay Company trading posts; Fort Hall was originally an American fur trading post but soon passed into the hands of the HBC, as well. Fort Kearny had all the amenities and services of a prairie fort, including a post office and nearby Dirty Woman Ranch. The Oregon Trail would follow the south shore of the Platte River, crossing the South Platte at California Crossing, and then follow the North Platte and the Sweetwater all the way to South Pass. The Mormon Trail paralleled the Oregon Trail on the north side of the Platte River all the way from Fort Kearny to Fort Laramie. Emigrants on both sides of the river could see fantastic rock formations such as Courthouse and Jail Rocks, Chimney Rock, Scotts Bluff, and Independence Rock.

These were important landmarks on the journey, and many of them (and other rock formations) still bear the names of travelers written in axle grease or scratched into the stone many decades ago. When the route was flat, the wagons would fan out rather than eat one another's dust, and the Trail would be many wagons wide. In other places the Trail narrowed, and the rocks are rutted several feet deep from hundreds of wagons following in single file. At some places there were cutoffs or shortcuts where emigrants or later gold miners impatient to get to their destinations would bypass forts. Forts Bridger and Hall were both bypassed in this manner by the Sublette and Hudspeth Cutoffs. An alternate route crossing the Snake River at Three Island Crossing and going to the tree-lined Boise River became the main stem, preferred to the arid Snake River route, which the overlanders took to calling the South Alternate. Until an 1847 Indian attack, the Whitman Mission was a well-known stop on the Oregon Trail.

In 1841 and 1842, the first two years of the Trail's use by emigrant parties, the overland route ended at Fort Walla Walla, at the mouth of the Walla Walla River. From there, emigrants rafted their wagons down the Columbia River to the Willamette River Valley. For the next three years, the overland segment ended at The Dalles. Here, the pioneers had a choice of building rafts to carry their wagons down the Columbia or abandoning their wagons for British bateaux to Fort Vancouver and Oregon City. Beginning in 1846, the Barlow Road around Mount Hood became the preferred route for more than two-thirds of all emigrants -- except in the years 1847 and 1852, when early snowfalls slowed the route. Even the Barlow Road had some alternates as travelers found better routes or chanced fines by going around the toll gates. Ultimately, all roads led to Oregon City, the last place to camp while looking for new farms or business opportunities and the location of the land office where settlers filed their claims. Oregon - U.S.

States - HISTORY.com Motto: She Flies With Her Own Wings Tree: Douglas Fir Bird: Western Meadowlark Interesting Facts Due to the high demand for beaver hats and coats and unregulated trapping during the early settlement years, beavers were nearly eliminated by the mid-19th century. Since then, proper management has allowed the semi-aquatic mammals to flourish once again. Known as the “Beaver State,” Oregon features a picture of a beaver on the back of its state flag. Beginning in 1836, roughly 12,000 emigrants made the 2,000-mile trek from Independence, Missouri, to the Oregon Territory. Heavily traveled until 1884, the Oregon Trail was the most used of all routes in the westward expansion of the United States. Mount Hood, a dormant volcano that last erupted around 1865, is covered by 12 glaciers. At 11,239 feet, it is the tallest peak in Oregon. In November of 1986, the 80-mile-long Columbia River Gorge, which traverses the border between Oregon and Washington, was designated the country’s first National Scenic Area.

Since the mixture of cool marine air on the western side of the Cascades and the drier air from the inland basin creates a natural wind tunnel, the gorge is considered to be one of the best places in the world for windsurfing. Oregon grows 99 percent of all hazelnuts produced in the United States. It is also the country’s leading producer of Christmas trees, with an output of more than 4.9 million trees in 2009. Oregon’s Crater Lake, formed in the remnant of an ancient volcano, is the deepest lake in the United States. Tags Oregon Trail facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Oregon Trail COPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. OREGON TRAIL OREGON TRAIL, one of several routes traveled in the mid-nineteenth century by pioneers seeking to settle in the western territories. Over a period of about thirty years, roughly 1830 to 1860, some 300,000 Americans crowded these overland trails. The Oregon Trail was first traveled in the early 1840s.

Only some 5,000 or so had made it to Oregon Territory by 1845, with another 3,000 making their way to California three years later. This trickle would turn into a flood in the following decade. The Oregon Trail totaled some 2,000 miles. The Oregon and California Trails followed the same path for almost half of this journey, so over landers headed to either destination faced many of the same natural obstacles. Departing from the small towns of Independence or St. Joseph, Missouri, or Council Bluffs, Iowa, miles of open plains initially greeted the travelers. The trail followed first the Missouri and then the Platte River. The water of the Platte was too dirty to drink, not deep enough to float a barge, and so broad that it left great mud flats and quicksand in the way of the unsuspecting settler. As the Rocky Mountains neared, the overlanders shifted to the north side of the Platte, and then maneuvered to cross the Continental Divide at the South Pass, low enough, broad enough, and safe enough for wagon transit. At this halfway point, the Oregon and California Trails diverged, the former heading north.

Settlers bound for Oregon Country shadowed the Snake River and faced one last mountain obstacle, the Blue Mountains. The Willamette Valley awaited those sturdy enough to complete this passage and some finished their travels on a reasonably safe boat ride down the Columbia River. It took six to seven months to travel the complete length of the Oregon Trail. Ideally, those making this journey departed in May to arrive before November and the first heavy snowfalls. However, those leaving too early risked getting mired in mud, and those leaving too late confronted snow at the end of their travels, a dangerous and foreboding prospect. The overlanders traveled in wagon trains, in groups ranging from ten to one hundred wagons. As the trails became better known and well-traveled, most wagoneers preferred smaller trains. Smaller wagon trains moved more quickly and were delayed less often due to internal arguments. When disputes did arise they might be settled by vote or, especially in larger wagon trains, according to a written constitution. On the trail, hardships and dangers proved numerous and discouraging. Accidents, such as drowning, ax wounds, shootings, or being run over by wagons or trampled by livestock, claimed many victims.

Sickness, especially cholera from poor drinking water, weakened countless travelers, eventually killing some. Despite the obstacles, people made the journey for economic reasons. The depression of 1837, the most severe of its day, pushed those contemplating a move west to do so sooner rather than later. California's gold rush, starting in 1848, did much to fuel travel west via the overland trails. Fertile land and the potential for wealth from trapping drew people to the Northwest. Migrants to the West were farmers as well as storekeepers, clerks, saloonkeepers, former soldiers, and other adventurers. They came from all over the United States, including the Upper South, the Midwest, and the Northeast. Because of the difficulty of the journey, most fell between the ages of ten and forty. Much folklore grew up around the overlanders and their journey. Perhaps the biggest legend of all concerns the danger posed to the migrants by Native Americans. In fact, Native Americans aided, directed, and even accompanied the overlanders. Deaths at the hands of Plains Indians probably numbered only in the hundreds, almost certainly not reaching the several thousands reported in legend.

Most Indians sought to profit from the wagoneers by imposing either a toll to cross a river, a fee for guidance down an uncertain road, or by offering an exchange of goods for renewed provisions. Horses often acted as currency. With the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, the wagon era came to a close. Yet a change in mode of transportation did little to detract from the accomplishment of those who toughed it out on the Oregon Trail and other trails. These pioneers had opened a land and settled it all in one motion. BIBLIOGRAPHY Billington, Ray Allen. The Far Western Frontier, 1830–1860. London: Harper and Row, 1956. Unruh, John D., Jr. The Plains Across: The Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West, 1840–1860. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1979. Matthew J.Flynn The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright The Columbia University Press Oregon Trail, overland emigrant route in the United States from the Missouri River to the Columbia River country (all of which was then called Oregon).

The pioneers by wagon train did not, however, follow any single narrow route. In open country the different trains might spread out over a large area, only to converge again for river crossings, mountain passes, and other natural constrictions. In time many cutoffs and alternate routes also developed. They originated at various places on the Missouri, although Independence and Westport (now part of Kansas City, Mo.) were favorite starting points, and St. Joseph had some popularity. The Route Those starting from Independence followed the same route as the Santa Fe Trail for some 40 mi (64 km), then turned NW to the Platte and generally followed that river to the junction of the North Platte and the South Platte. Crossing the South Platte, the main trail followed the North Platte to Fort Laramie, while the Overland Trail followed the South Platte. The main trail continued from Fort Laramie to the present Casper, Wyo., and through the mountains by the South Pass to the basin of the Colorado River. The travelers then went SW; the Overland Trail rejoined the route E of Fort Bridger.

From Fort Bridger the Mormon Trail continued SW to the Great Salt Lake, while the Oregon Trail went northwest across a divide to Fort Hall , on the Snake River. It then went along the Snake River. The California Trail branched off to the southwest, but the Oregon Trail continued to Fort Boise. From that point the travelers had to make the hard climb over the Blue Mts. Once those were crossed, paths diverged somewhat; many went to Fort Walla Walla before proceeding down the south bank of the Columbia River, traversing the Columbia's gorge where it passes through the Cascade Mts. to the Willamette Valley, where the early settlement centered. The end of the trail shifted as settlement spread. The Wagon Trains The mountain men were chiefly responsible for making the route known, and Thomas Fitzpatrick and James Bridger were renowned as guides. Capt. Benjamin de Bonneville first took wagons over South Pass in 1832. The first genuine emigrant train was that led by John Bidwell in 1841, half of which went to California, the rest proceeding from Fort Hall to Oregon. The first train of emigrants to reach Oregon was that led by Elijah White in 1842.

In 1843 occurred the "great emigration" of more than 900 persons and more than 1,000 head of stock. Four trains made the journey in 1844, and by 1845 the emigrants reached a total of over 3,000. Although it took the average train six months to traverse the c.2,000-mi (3,200-km) route, the trail was used for many years. Travel gradually declined with the coming of the railroads, and the trail was abandoned in the 1870s. Many trail sites are now preserved in the Oregon National Historic Trail (see National Parks and Monuments , table). An interpretive center is in Baker City, Oreg. Bibliography The classic work by F. Parkman, The Oregon Trail, actually concerns only the eastern part of the trail. See also Federal Writers' Project, The Oregon Trail (1939, repr. 1972); E. Meeker, Story of the Lost Trail of Oregon (1984); J. E. Brown, Oregon Trail Revisited (1988); D.

Dary, The Oregon Trail: An American Saga (2004). Cite this article Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History COPYRIGHT 2000 The Gale Group Inc. OREGON TRAIL The Oregon Trail was a route used primarily from the late 1840s through the 1870s to reach Oregon Territory—lands that were ceded to the United States by the British in 1846. (The territory comprised present-day Oregon, Idaho , Washington, and parts of Montana and Wyoming.) Measuring 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers), the trail was one of the great overland routes used in westward expansion. Wagon trains began at Independence, Missouri (today an eastern suburb of Kansas City , Missouri), and traveled northwest to Fort Kearny (near present-day Kearney), Nebraska . From there wagons followed the Platte and North Platte rivers west and northwest to Fort Laramie in southeast Wyoming. Continuing westward along the North Platte, travelers arrived at South Pass, located on the southeastern end of the Rocky Mountains' Wind River Range. Nearby South Pass City became a boom-town during the 1800s.

The Oregon Trail then ran southwest to Fort Bridger, Wyoming—where the Mormon Trail diverged to the southwest (into Utah ). Travelers bound for the Pacific Northwest continued along the Oregon Trail, following the Snake River through Idaho. The route turned northwest to Fort Boise, Idaho. From there settlers made the difficult crossing through the Blue Mountains to Walla Walla (then the site of a mission) in Washington. The last leg of the journey followed the Columbia River west to Fort Vancouver and into the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The road could be traversed in six months' time, but it was a rigorous journey that took travelers across prairie, through desert, over mountains, and across flooded rivers. Explorers and fur traders are credited with first forging the route. The western portion of the trail was covered by explorers Meriwether Lewis (1774–1809) and William Clark (1770–1838) in their 1804–1806 expedition to the Pacific. But it did not become heavily used by wagons until about 1842, the same year that military officer and future politician John C.

Fremont (1813–1890) surveyed a portion of the route for the U.S. Army. After the Territory of Oregon was set up by the U.S. government in 1848, an increasing number of settlers made their way westward across the winding Oregon Trail. The route was heavily used through the 1860s. However, at the completion of transcontinental railroads its importance diminished by the end of the century. See also: John Fremont, Idaho, Lewis and Clark Expedition, Montana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, Santa Fe Trail, Transcontinental Railroad, Utah, Washington, Wyoming Cite this article

Question: The 'Oregon Trail' finished in the Columbia River area of Oregon, where did it start?
Answer: INDEPENDENCE, Missouri